Budapestic

Seven hours on a night bus (and about nineteen euros) can get you from the City of Bridges to the beautiful capital of the Czech Republic. I cannot even express how much I loved this city.  Budapest is my often chaotic home, Bratislava is a charming small capital, Vienna is the pricier home for art and music and Prague seems to really mix all three! We walked some quiet streets, discovered all kinds of activities going on in the old town square, and toured the most impressive cathedral I've been in so far. (I am beginning to think I am a little bit of an expert on Cathedrals, as I think I've been in about ten now).  The one catch is that Prague is quite crowded. Seems like everyone else fell in love with the city just as much as me! We did have a few moments where we got stuck in the crowd, but thankfully we also had some really amazing quiet moments as well.  We arrived in Prague early in the morning, after about an hour and a half of sleep. We didn'...

On Tuesday of this week, I attended a traditional Hungarian dance class. If I'm being honest, it was a kind of bumpy experience. However, I am really glad that I got out of my comfort zone. The class was held in the ballroom of a dorm just outside of my campus, and it was run by the University's dance team. I was going to be joined by my roommate, but she had a last minute project to finish. I was really looking forward to having a friend to look ridiculous with me, but I understood why she was so stressed about her assignments. So, in spite of my anxiety, I got on the tram by myself, and headed across the Danube to campus. Inside, everyone was speaking Hungarian. I probably shouldn't be shocked by this, but so far most of the student events that I have been attending have been tailored for international students. The room was full of students and also older community members who came out for the night of traditional music and dancing. I sat down next to some stude...

 Last weekend I spent three nights in the city of classical music and chocolate cake. It was beautiful! As soon as we arrived I could tell that the vibe was very different from that of Budapest. Although I've been slowly falling in love with the colorful streets and the overall-grundgy felling of the of my home in Budapest, Vienna captured my heart with its clean streets and breathtaking sights. We arrived in the evening, at an enormous international train station. Vienna has remained the central hub for connections through central Europe, a position that is left over from when it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The train station was walk-able from our airbnb, which was fantastic and perfect for seven people! We went out on the first evening and found a place selling sushi for only six euros! (This was really cheap for Vienna especially). We couldn't help but indulge ourselves, even though it wasn't exactly a local favo...